Subaru Repair: front crankshaft seal and oil pump, subaru legacy outback, crankshaft seal


Question
1996 subaru legacy outback 2.5lt. auto. awd; i would like to know what the dynamics are for the infamous oil leak at the front crank seal? i.e. is it the 'O'-ring ,the pump housing to block seal ,the crank seal itself or a combination of all these things?! car has 80k miles on it & im curious what SOA has to say about it. thanx!     DWAYNE  P.S. also,whats up with the screws on pump cover coming loose, i had 4 out of 5 loose!
locktited & staked hope this works.

Answer
dwayne, the screws loosening up on the oil pump was not uncommon, but not very frequent.Locktight should work. The crank seal however is another story. They will leak on almost every 2.2 and 2.5 until they are replaced with the brown replacement seal. Ensure you run 5w and not 10 or 20 oils, and replace your pcv valve  with an oem every 20,000 miles to prevent excessive crankcase pressures. Doing this will prevent the new ones from going bad.